Freeform Seventies Crochet

If you crochet, have you ever tried this style? Or, if you were a kid or teenager in the Seventies perhaps the teacher forced it on you in craft class…

I don’t often find craft books in the trash so my first reaction was ‘how cool’ when the BF spotted it on a heap and handed it to me one night. But it was not for me. Even though I don’t often use patterns I’m a neat stitch counter.

As even the basic instructions taught me nothing new I decided to see if I could list it in my online bookshop. To my surprise it's EAN/ISBN was recognized by the hosting site and the book was ordered a couple of months later. Though I can’t imagine anybody would want to have it, the buyer must have been specifically looking for it. Hope she’s happy. It turned out to be one good rescue after all.

Now I only regret I didn’t scan more pages. This scarf here was really one of the ‘prettier’ designs!

My Enrico Benetti Bag

Last week I had my face professionally photographed for a short interview I had with a women’s magazine (Vriendin). What about? About this here funny hobby of mine! Where this eclectic way of recycling eventually can lead to…

As both the make-up artist and photographer’s assistant’s mouths fell open when I told them the handbag I was carrying came from the trash as well I thought it might be a nice item to show.

As you may have read before most bags I find are just good for the zippers and other parts that I upcycle. So this fine genuine leather Enrico Benetti in mint condition was a rare and lucky find.

It’s only a bit out of fashion, but actually I’m not a fan of the current style of bags. I find them puffy and overly ornamented with buckles and straps that seem to have no function at all.

The straight and functional design of my find suits me well.

Tea Pots And Tea Cozies

Sorry I haven’t written a New Year’s post, but it’s not too late though to wish all my readers a happy, healthy, green and crafty 2010!

The thing is late December I got an invitation from a real gallery to exhibit my tea cozies in February. So the year is starting off good, but I’ve been working like crazy to finish off the one new model I had begun to work on since a long time.

With my cutest model ‘Pagoda’ (see album link below) sold I don’t really have that much to show. I made this new one - which I shall name 'Chess' by the way because of the pon-shape inside the tower - to fit a sweet Brown Betty type of pot that I bought in a thrift shop. I didn't unravel, but used a small batch of leftover yarn I found in my mother's attic. For insulation I filled it with polyfiber from an old sleeping bag.

Tea pots are hard to find in the trash and if at all usually very damaged or missing the lid. But I’ve been really lucky once with this simple glass model that was completely unused as well.

Hopefully I’ll find time to model a second new cozy on this pot before I meet for the first time with the gallery owner, which is in less than two weeks.

You can find all cozies I've made so far in my online album here.